The Jesus of History eBook

Where the habit of mind is thus set to fact, and life
is based on God, on God’s will and God’s
doings, it is not surprising that in the daily round
there should be noted “sanity, reserve, composure,
and steadiness.” It may seem to be descending
to a lower plane, but it is worthwhile to look for
a moment at the sheer sense which Jesus can bring
to bear on a situation. The Sabbath—­is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Well, if a
man’s one sheep is in a pit on the Sabbath,
what will he do? (Matt. 12:11), or will he refrain
from leading his ox to the water on the Sabbath (Luke
13:15)? Such questions bring a theological problem
into the atmosphere of sense—­and it is
better solved there. He is interrupted by a demand
that he arbitrate between a man and his brother; and
his reply is virtually, Does your brother accept your
choice of an arbitrator? (Luke 12:14)—­and
that matter is finished. “Are there few
that be saved?” asks some one in vague speculation,
and he gets a practical answer addressed to himself
(Luke 13:23). Even in matters of ordinary manners
and good taste, he offers a shrewd rule (Luke 14:8).
Luke records also two or three instances of perfectly
banal talk and ejaculation addressed to him—­the
bazaar talk of the Galilean murders (Luke 13:1)—­the
pious if rather obvious remark of some man about feasting
in the Kingdom of God (Luke 14:15)—­and the
woman’s homey congratulation of Mary on her son
(Luke 11:27). In each case he gets away to something
serious.

Above all, we must recognize the power which every
one felt in him. Even Herod, judging by rumour,
counts him greater than John the Baptist (Matt. 14:2).
The very malignity of his enemies is a confession
of their recognition that they are dealing with some
one who is great. Men remarked his sedative and
controlling influence over the disordered mind (Mark
1:27). He is not to be trapped in his talk, to
be cajoled or flattered. There is greatness in
his language—­in his reference of everything
to great principles and to God; greatness in his freedom
from ambition, in his contempt of advertisement and
popularity, in his appeal to the best in men, in his
belief in men, in his power of winning and keeping
friends, in his gift for making great men out of petty.
In all this we are not stepping outside the Gospels
nor borrowing from what he has done in nineteen centuries.
In Galilee and in Jerusalem men felt his power.
And finally, what of his calm, his sanity, his dignity,
in the hour of betrayal, in the so-called trials,
before the priests, before Pilate, on the Cross?
The Pharisees, said Tertullian, ought to have recognized
who Christ was by his patience.

CHAPTER IV

THE TEACHER AND HIS DISCIPLES

It was as a teacher that Jesus of Nazareth first began
to gather disciples round him. But to understand
the work of the Teacher, we must have some general
impression of the world to which he came. The
background will help us understand what had to be done,
and what it was he meant to do.